Translator Spotlight: Mahantesh Biradar

“The more you share, the more you grow”. There is some special happiness when you share with other people what you know.

Our translator spotlight this week is on Mahantesh Biradar, a Kannada Translator and Language Coordinator for the Global Translator Community (GTC).

Please introduce yourself

My name is Mahantesh Biradar and I currently live in Taipei, Taiwan. I am a Graduate PhD Researcher and I’ve been a member of the GTC for more than a year. I’m currently a Language Coordinator of GTC’s Kannada community.

What motivates you to translate for Coursera?

I always remember this quote – “The more you share, the more you grow”. There is some special happiness when you share with other people what you know.

Coursera has a rich knowledge resource and it has reached to a large group of people who are passionate about learning. I’m originally from the state of Karnataka, India and we speak Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ), which is one of the official languages of India. I feel that there is an enormous need to translate more and more courses into Kannada so that Coursera courses can reach all native speakers of Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ).

What are your best practices for translating?

Some of my best practices are:

1. Understand the scenario of the speaker;

2. Compare my own translation to web translation, and then make a simple and effective sentence by combining these two.

I usually try to keep in contact with Coursera Staff and email them whenever I have questions. I usually allocate a few hours of the day for my translation activity and I prefer doing it after a long day of work. This makes me feel relaxed from the hectic day.

How have you benefitted from translating as a member of the Coursera GTC?

First of all, I’m learning more about some of my favorite subjects, which I didn’t know earlier. This platform has helped me connect with some of the brightest minds across the world who speak the same language as I do.

Moreover, since I’m living abroad in Taiwan now, the GTC has given me an opportunity to keep in touch with my mother tongue, Kannada.

What was a memorable experience in interacting with other GTC translators?

One memorable experience was knowing Ajay Kumar B, one of the first few translators who joined hands with me in translating Coursera courses to Kannada.

What do you want people to know about the work that the GTC does?

I would like people to know that there is a rich source of knowledge on Coursera and it should reach each and everyone regardless of gender, age, race and language spoken. So make sure to invite experts who will be excited about translating more content into their mother tongue.

Life will be pleasant if you’re satisfied with what you have and it will be much more thrilling if you try to achieve what you desire.

Hi there!
It’s Lina from China.
I am working in a software development company and handling the translation tasks in my daily work. When I first download the Coursera app, I found the user interface mixed with both Chinese and English so I asked to join the translator team and I would love to do something small to help make Coursera bigger and more beneficial to others :).
Cheers~